Sorry for the awkward title. It was a bit of a challenge trying to encapsulate this topic in a few words.

3/4 of my basement is finished. Ceramic tile on the floors (I guess 8"x8" or so). I had a perimeter drain installed a few months ago. The contractor had to remove the tile around the perimeter (in addition to baseboard, a portion of the studs and drywall) and covered the trench/pipe with concrete even with the concrete subfloor below the level of the tile. I am starting to plan the repairs. I am looking into going over the tile with Allure flooring and was thinking that I could fill in the space left from the removed tile with self-leveling cement. (The manufacturer of Allure recommends applying self-leveling cement over ceramic tile that is textured and/or has grout lines of 1/8" inch anyway, which is my scenario.) I think that would be easier than using regular cement and trying to get it level. I guess as an alternative I could install tile in the space, but that seems like more work than necessary and might end up costing just as much as the self-leveling cement at $30/bag.

I'd appreciate your opinions/suggestions. Let me know if pictures of the floor would help to explain. Thanks!

florpro

01-25-2011 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by phillylex

Sorry for the awkward title. It was a bit of a challenge trying to encapsulate this topic in a few words.

3/4 of my basement is finished. Ceramic tile on the floors (I guess 8"x8" or so). I had a perimeter drain installed a few months ago. The contractor had to remove the tile around the perimeter (in addition to baseboard, a portion of the studs and drywall) and covered the trench/pipe with concrete even with the concrete subfloor below the level of the tile. I am starting to plan the repairs. I am looking into going over the tile with Allure flooring and was thinking that I could fill in the space left from the removed tile with self-leveling cement. (The manufacturer of Allure recommends applying self-leveling cement over ceramic tile that is textured and/or has grout lines of 1/8" inch anyway, which is my scenario.) I think that would be easier than using regular cement and trying to get it level. I guess as an alternative I could install tile in the space, but that seems like more work than necessary and might end up costing just as much as the self-leveling cement at $30/bag.

I'd appreciate your opinions/suggestions. Let me know if pictures of the floor would help to explain. Thanks!

Installing tile will be a lot of work and for the self leveler you will want to use something that is not to sandy because you need a smooth surface. A flooring skimcoat product works great.

phillylex

01-26-2011 07:32 AM

I was planning to use this product to fill in the void and to skim coat the tile/grout lines for the flooring. I did not see anything that said it would have a sandy texture. Thoughts?

I don't know much about that product, normaly if self leveler is used for a skimcoat it quill be a little sandy to trowel but if used as a filler its great because you pour and it levels with very little help. We would always use a different product for skimcoating than for self leveling ..